Russ Gavitt has been a longtime supporter of the Davidson Lands Conservancy, but this year, he was looking for a way to do more. Over coffee with the conservancy’s executive director Roy Alexander recently, the photographer and Davidson resident helped come  up with the idea of staging an art and music fund-raiser.

On Friday, Feb. 24, Mr. Gavitt and other artists will be selling their work while a jazz quartet performs at “Spread the Love,” an arts reception to benefit three Davidson institutions: the lands conservancy, the Community School of Davidson and the Ada Jenkins Center. It will run from 7-10 p.m. at Homewood Suites, 125 Harbour Place Drive, off I-77 Exit 30 in Davidson.
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Brad Thomas, Davidson College’s art gallery director since 1999, has found a new perch: As curator of contemporary art at the Mint Museum in Charlotte. Mint officials announced Thursday that he will start the new job Monday, Jan 23, at the museum in downtown Charlotte. On Wednesday night, Mr. Thomas as the college’s Van Every/Smith Galleries, saying farewells and accepting pats on the back from friends during an opening for the exhibit “Davidson Collects,” a show of recent acquisitions that shows the stamp he has put on Davidson’s permanent collection. See a story and photos in our latest Art News column, in THE GUIDE»

Can damage actually increase the value of a piece of art? A Davidson College philosophy professor thinks so, and he’ll test the theory in a benefit auction this Friday, Dec. 9., at Summit Coffee in Davidson. Read about Davidson Professor Paul Studtmann’s theory and project in The GUIDE»

Davidson College News Office
Davidson College’s slam-poetry team, FreeWord, invites the public to the first -ever Carolina Collegiate Slam on Saturday, Nov. 5.

The event titled “This Slam Will Not Be Televised,” will bring together eight teams of poet-performers from seven Carolina institutions to competitively recite their original work, and will begin at 8 p.m. in the Duke Family Performance Hall.

Tickets are free for all college and high school students, and $3 for non-students. Tickets can be ordered by calling 704-894-2135 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays, or online at www.davidson.edu/tickets. Read the full story

By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

The Davidson Public Art Commission is about to start work on its second public art project, a “Book Garden” off Main Street, between the public library and the CVS pharmacy. The $100,000 project was shelved last year when state and federal grants never came through, but it’s back on track thanks to a new grant from Wells Fargo Corp. Read the full story

Town officials and representatives of developer Edens & Avant will dedicate a small new park on Thursday off Jetton Street near the Davidson Commons (Harris Teeter) shopping center. The ribbon-cutting is scheduled at 10:30 a.m. in the park behind the Aquesta Bank branch.

The site originally was slated for a row of 5 townhouses. But Edens & Avant, which developed the shopping center and site, in early 2009 requested a change in the master plan to allow a park. The company told town officials it has been unable to find a developer to build the homes, in part because of the poor real estate market. Read the full story

Davidson College’s studio art faculty will open an exhibit of new work with a reception Thursday at the Belk Visual Art Center, North Main and Griffith streets. We have a preview of the show, and of a exhibit by visiting British artist Ewan Gibbs titled “America.” Details in The Guide.

The “Craaazzy Kayak Trip Water Basin Tour” finished its trip from the Catawba River headwaters to Blythe Landing in Cornelius Saturday, encouraging donations to the Catawba River Keeper Foundation. The group raised almost $2,000 in pledges and received a $1,500 challenge bonus from the N.C. Conservation Network. Volunteers along the route donated supplies and support.

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